Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an embroidery pattern placement system, an embroidery pattern placement device, a method of placing an embroidery pattern for the embroidery pattern placement device, and a sewing machine.
Background Art
When making embroidery on cloth, it is a rare case to make embroidery on plain or unworked cloth. In most cases, embroidery is made to a part such as a pocket or a sleeve, or an embroidery pattern is formed on cloth already having decorative stitches or printed cloth.
Patent document 1 discloses a sewing machine capable of sewing after evenly placing a plurality of patterns, such as letters and the like, selected by a user in a specified stitch range of cloth to be embroidered attached to an embroidery frame.
With such a conventional sewing machine, the user attaches an embroidery frame to which cloth to be embroidered is set to the sewing machine, moves the embroidery frame to a position at which an intended embroidery pattern is to be made using a jogging operation as a function of the sewing machine, and moves a position of a needle to a position near a starting point. Then, the user executes a stitch range confirmation function, moves the embroidery frame relative to the needle along a line of a rectangle of a range in which the pattern is embroidered, and visually confirms that the pattern is contained within the rectangle. The position and the range of embroidery confirmed by this function can be roughly confirmed before execution of the embroidery. However, it is not possible to make a positional relation between a pattern of the cloth to be embroidered in the background and the embroidery pattern clear.
Further, it is necessary to make visual confirmation avoiding a mechanical section of the sewing machine when positioning an embroidery starting position of the cloth to be embroidered under the needle, and therefore it is difficult to perform correct positioning.
On the other hand, there has conventionally been known a technique for connecting a sewing machine and a personal computer or the like via wireless communication (see Patent document 2).
Further, instead of personal computers, tablet terminals which may be used in an easier manner have come into common use in recent years.
In the field of sewing machines, a system capable of connecting a sewing machine with a tablet terminal via wireless LAN has been under development.
When editing regarding embroidery is to be performed using a tablet terminal, a personal computer, or the like, a background image is displayed in an embroidery editing screen in order to adjust a sewing position and to confirm an image of finished sewing. For this purpose, the background image is required to be displayed at a correct magnification ratio.
In general, in an application of a personal computer or the like, the background image is converted into image data using a scanner or a digital camera, and the magnification is adjusted by processing the image data. On the other hand, when using a tablet terminal having a camera function, it is conceivable to activate the camera function during an editing operation, and to import an image that has been taken as it is as a background. However, unlike the case using a scanner, in the case of an image taken by a tablet terminal, a standard of dimensions of the image is unclear, and the image may not be displayed at correct magnification ratio. Therefore, it is not possible to use such an image for editing in which the embroidery position and the embroidery range are determined relative to the background image (cloth to be embroidered).